The way that the Whitecaps 2-2 tie with FC Dallas played out on Saturday makes it a particularly difficult game to process.

Was the surge that pulled back two goals the result of tactical changes, the energy from a crowd that was becoming more and more infuriated by what they perceived as opposition play acting or was it just because Dallas began to sit too deep and invite the Whitecaps to come at them?

Probably a mix of all three in truth, but it will be interesting to see what lesson Martin Rennie feels is the most pertinent from a game that was both frustrating and thrilling in equal measure.

Will he look at the performance of Darren Mattocks and decide that he is a striker who frequently gets into a position to score but just isn’t getting the breaks, or will he a see as striker that is failing to make the most of gilt edged chances and is thus damaging the team?

Will he make note of the fact that the withdrawal of Jun Marques Davidson coincided with his teams most vibrant attacking spell or will he decide that was a gamble that paid off rather than a blueprint for the future.

Will he replay the video of the two goals conceded and conclude that Joe Cannon was indirectly at fault for the first (his reluctance to clear the ball that led to the corner that produced the goal) and directly at fault for the second (his hesitation to come for a looping ball that could have been his) or will he decide that Cannon is getting little protection from a defensive set-up that consistently specializes in shambolic decision making at set-pieces?

Will he remember the performance of Kekuta Manneh as one that establishes him as a first team regular or will he remember the nerves the youngster displayed in the early minutes of his appearance and prefer to think of Manneh as a useful addition of speed toward the end of a game?

We’ll find out the answer to all these questions in the next few weeks, but let’s dispense with patience and insight and take a look at what I think.

Mattocks is a tough one. He is quite clearly difficult to mark as is proven by the fact that he frequently finds space in important areas, but he is equally tough to support because of how little use he has made of that space in recent weeks.

On another day he could have had at least three goals and that will probably be enough to convince Rennie that he is worth another shot, but it seems that Mattocks is lacking the tools to play as the lone forward.

Playing him in conjunction with Heinemann (as happened so effectively in the closing stages against Dallas) or Miller when he is fit, may be the best option if we are ever going to see the best from a player who still talks a good game but is clearly having a crisis of confidence when the ball is at his feet.

It’s getting harder and harder to justify Davidson’s inclusion in the team, but if I had to try I would say that the fact that so many of the goals conceded this season have come from set-pieces is testament to how effectively having somebody in that role helps to break up opposition attacks and I would also point out that, even when down to ten men, Dallas created a number of very good chances when Vancouver didn’t have Davidson on the field.

The counter to that is to argue (and this is especially true of home games) that the Whitecaps are being left shorthanded when going forward if one of their midfielders shows such an obstinate reluctance to advance at any point during the game and Koffie and Reo-Coker are perfectly capable of dropping deep when the situation requires.

It’s probably time for Rennie to give his midfield a freer reign than it has had up to this point and to see how they cope without the comfort blanket that Davidson has become.

Joe Cannon’s distribution has been a concern all season and it came to a head against Dallas as he resisted two chances to clear a back pass that resulted in such a costly consequence.

His reluctance to leave his line on set-pieces also seems to be creating additional hesitation in a defence that is clearly having problems, both from an individual as well as a collective point of view. The problem for Rennie however is that those problems were still in force when Brad Knighton was in goal against Edmonton, but if Knighton can demonstrate the kind of confidence in dominating his area that he showed last season in the return game on Wednesday evening then he will probably have earned the right to his first Major League start of the campaign.

What to do about Kekuta Manneh is an easier question to answer.

What we saw on Saturday was glimpses of what a very good player he could be, but we also saw his rawness as well.

Throwing him regularly into the start of games this early in his soccer career would probably do more harm than good, so best to keep him as a valuable weapon to be used from the bench and allow him to gradually build up his experience and his playing time.

It’s possible that Martin Rennie came a little bit closer to discovering his preferred starting eleven during the game against Dallas, but it’s also possible that he found himself to be a little bit further away from that particular epiphany than he was when the first whistle blew.

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